Hanover Park woman sues police claiming excessive force

A confrontation nearly two years ago between four Hanover Park police officers and the mother of a student they were attempting to arrest has led to a federal lawsuit.

Though the police department’s arrest report describes Annie Bainer as the aggressor, a complaint filed last week on her behalf against the officers and village claims excessive force, false arrest and malicious prosecution.

The scene unfolded the morning of Sept. 1, 2010, when officers Joel Duchak, Jason Harden, Hugo Villa and William Weil arrived at Bainer’s home on the 5500 block of Court H to arrest her son, Daniel, for an “incident” that took place at his school.

DuPage County court records show he later pleaded guilty to felony aggravated battery for punching and kicking a victim.

In her complaint, filed this month in U.S. District Court, Annie Bainer said after police arrived she locked her front door to go upstairs and get her sleeping son. When she came back, she opened the door halfway and straddled it.

The officers began yelling at him to come out, but her son refused to leave the stairs, the suit states. The complaint alleges the officers then pushed open the door, causing it to hit her and push her into the wall. She was pinned as they continued to lean on the door, causing the doorknob to push into her abdomen, she claims.

Bainer, who had a hernia, told the officers they didn’t have permission to enter without a search or arrest warrant and that they were hurting her, according to the suit.

Annie Bainer was arrested and charged in DuPage County with obstructing a police officer and battery. Those charges were dismissed in August 2011.

Bainer’s suit claims the officers’ actions caused physical pain and suffering, emotional distress, medical expenses, lost wages and property damage.

According to the police department’s arrest report, officer Hugo Villa wrote that when he grabbed Daniel Bainer’s wrist to handcuff him, Annie Bainer stepped in between the two, pushed back her son and said he wouldn’t be coming with the officers.

Though she was warned she’d be arrested and Daniel Bainer shouted at her to not make matters worse, Annie Bainer tried to close the door and pushed two officers in the chest in an attempt to push them out, the report states.

Annie Bainer’s complaint demands a jury trial and asks for an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages.